Cuts to Food Stamps Program Amid Record Number of Recipients

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Gov. Scott Signs Welfare Drug Testing Into Law
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) – Expect challenges to a bill signed by Governor Rick Scott which will require welfare applicants to undergo drug testing.
The bill also requires that those who apply for welfare must pay for the drug testing out of their own pockets. However, the cost would be reimbursed if the person passes the drug test.
Republicans said the measure was needed because if taxpayers are screened at their place of employment, so should welfare recipients. The drug testing bill was a priority for Scott.
“While there are certainly legitimate needs for public assistance, it is unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction,” Governor Scott said. “This new law will encourage personal accountability and will help to prevent the misuse of tax dollars.”
A similar law which passed in Michigan in 1999 which required random drug testing of Welfare recipients lasted five weeks before it was stopped by a judge. An appeals court ruled it unconstitutional after a four-year legal battle.
On Tuesday, Scott also signed into law another measure that bans the designer drug MDPV or “bath salts.”
Poison control centers in Florida have reported 61 calls of “bath salts” abuse, making Florida the state with the second-highest volume of calls. The hallucinogenic substances are readily available at convenience stores, discount tobacco outlets, gas stations, pawnshops, tattoo parlors, and truck stops, among other locations.
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/05/31...ting-into-law/

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Originally Posted by Jeanfromfillmore

Gov. Scott Signs Welfare Drug Testing Into Law
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) – Expect challenges to a bill signed by Governor Rick Scott which will require welfare applicants to undergo drug testing.
The bill also requires that those who apply for welfare must pay for the drug testing out of their own pockets. However, the cost would be reimbursed if the person passes the drug test.
Republicans said the measure was needed because if taxpayers are screened at their place of employment, so should welfare recipients. The drug testing bill was a priority for Scott.
“While there are certainly legitimate needs for public assistance, it is unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction,” Governor Scott said. “This new law will encourage personal accountability and will help to prevent the misuse of tax dollars.”
A similar law which passed in Michigan in 1999 which required random drug testing of Welfare recipients lasted five weeks before it was stopped by a judge. An appeals court ruled it unconstitutional after a four-year legal battle.
On Tuesday, Scott also signed into law another measure that bans the designer drug MDPV or “bath salts.”
Poison control centers in Florida have reported 61 calls of “bath salts” abuse, making Florida the state with the second-highest volume of calls. The hallucinogenic substances are readily available at convenience stores, discount tobacco outlets, gas stations, pawnshops, tattoo parlors, and truck stops, among other locations.
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/05/31...ting-into-law/

The ACLU of Florida filed a lawsuit seeking to halt Gov. Rick Scott’s executive order mandating drug testing for state employees.
TALLAHASSEE -- Requiring job applicants to "pee in a cup" to test for drugs and randomly selecting current public employees to do the same is unconstitutional, attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday after filing a federal lawsuit to stop the practice ordered by Gov. Rick Scott.
In what is expected to be a series of lawsuits on recently passed legislation and gubernatorial edicts, the ACLU called on a federal judge in Miami to immediately suspend an executive order signed by Scott in March that requires all agencies to set up random drug testing protocols for existing workers and require new hires to submit to drug tests as a condition of their employment.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/0...ghts-drug-test...

[Twoller]

Originally Posted by Jeanfromfillmore

Gov. Scott Signs Welfare Drug Testing Into Law
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) – Expect challenges to a bill signed by Governor Rick

Scott which will require welfare applicants to undergo drug testing.
The bill also requires that those who apply for welfare must pay for the drug testing out of their own pockets. However, the cost would be reimbursed if the person passes the drug test.

Republicans said the measure was needed because if taxpayers are screened at their place of employment, so should welfare recipients. The drug testing bill was a priority for Scott.

“While there are certainly legitimate needs for public assistance, it is unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction,” Governor Scott said. “This new law will encourage personal accountability and will help to prevent the misuse of tax dollars.”

A similar law which passed in Michigan in 1999 which required random drug testing of Welfare recipients lasted five weeks before it was stopped by a judge. An appeals court ruled it unconstitutional after a four-year legal battle.
On Tuesday, Scott also signed into law another measure that bans the designer drug MDPV or “bath salts.”

Poison control centers in Florida have reported 61 calls of “bath salts” abuse, making Florida the state with the second-highest volume of calls. The hallucinogenic substances are readily available at convenience stores, discount tobacco outlets, gas stations, pawnshops, tattoo parlors, and truck stops, among other locations.

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/05/31...ting-into-law/

This doesn't even make any sense. What about alcohol? Nobody is policing welfare recipients for use of alcohol? Why not? Alcohol is not a problem for those who need welfare? What about tobacco? If you can afford to smoke a pack a day, you don't need welfare assistance. And if you want to police against the use of alcohol and tobacco among welfare recipients, how are you going to do it?

It's not just a bad idea, but it's really brainless too. It is pointless to police against bad behavior among welfare recipients. It's hard enough making sure they don't actually need welfare.

And of course nobody who is not a US citizen should be getting any government benefits at all. There's a sensible place to start cutting welfare recipients.

[Jeanfromfillmore]

More than 44 million Americans — 14 percent of the population — now rely on the federal government’s food stamps program, an all-time high.
The number of recipients is up 11 percent from one year ago and more than 60 percent from just four years ago.
Nearly 21 million households are now reliant on the Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The program cost taxpayers over $68 billion last year, twice as much as in 2007, and accounts for 67 percent of the USDA’s total budget, compared to 26 percent in 1980.
The 2012 appropriations bill includes $71 billion for food stamps, a 9 percent increase from 2011 but $2 billion less than what President Obama requested.
Critics complain that SNAP hasn’t put a dent in poverty or hunger while taking away funds from other efforts that should be the main focus of the USDA, specifically agricultural programs, according to ABC News.
The food stamp program is also vulnerable to abuse. A Menominee, Mich., man was arrested recently and charged with food stamp trafficking. He allegedly used a food stamps card to buy $141 worth of lobster, steak and soft drinks and resold the items for 50 cents on the dollar.
The Republicans’ 2012 budget plan seeks to change SNAP from an entitlement to a block-grant program that would be tailored for each state. The proposal would make aid contingent on work or job training and limit funding for the program.
You can see how the Government is using the "block-grant" program to pick and choose which states get sweet little gifts. You can bet they're Democrat saturated states with plenty of illegals. These grants don't give off the smell of corruption because they're often hidden and distributed through nonprofits.

[Merrilee]

Very interesting article. Thanks.

[nativesmith]

People are going to have to realize that the government is no longer going to provide for your children. The sad fact is that if you can’t afford to raise children on your own, you shouldn’t be having them.